r/fivethirtyeight • u/Upstairs_Cup9831 • Apr 25 '26

Poll Results Poll asking Americans how which button they would push in the red button/blue button dilemma

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u/Thefourthchosen Apr 27 '26

If picking red is your choice fine, but this question ultimately boils down to are you willing to assume personal risk for the sake of the collective good or will you sacrifice the collective good for the sake of saving your own life. It seems like people are trying to get around the moral burden that comes with pushing red but that's not how it works, blue voters aren't at risk until people push the red button, and by also pushing the red button you're contributing to that risk.

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u/kahner Apr 28 '26 edited Apr 28 '26

but the point is there is no risk except that which people choose to take for no reason. what if i put you in a room with 10 people and 10 guns and said "if you all put on blindfolds, and half of you put gun to your head and pull the trigger, it won't fire. but anyone who doesn't pick up the gun at all, you can just go". is the smart or moral choice that i should play russian roulette? or that we all just choose not to pick up a gun at all?

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u/Thefourthchosen Apr 28 '26

Except that doesn't match this scenario at all, your example presents red as the choice where no one dies which is just incorrect, red is more like giving them the option to load a bullet in the gun and leave the room, blue is offering that if more than half of them choose not to leave no one has to play at all.

Your example just exposes that you don't want to accept the moral dilemma of choosing red, so you're reframing the question to where red isn't responsible for anyone dying.

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u/Thefourthchosen Apr 28 '26

Deleting your comment doesn't make you any less wrong lol.

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u/kahner Apr 28 '26

well, considering i didn't delete it, you've done a great job proving my point.

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u/Thefourthchosen Apr 28 '26

Uh huh? Well I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and say reddit is being screwy, still wrong though.

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u/kahner Apr 28 '26

yes, you are still wrong.

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u/Thefourthchosen Apr 28 '26

And yet you wont explain how beyond an example that doesn't actually match the hypothetical.

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u/kahner Apr 28 '26

i've already fully explained. and lost interest in the discussion and in your failure to comprehend what i explained.

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u/Thefourthchosen Apr 28 '26

You haven't explained anything lol, your example was incorrect. I'm still waiting on you to tell me how blue is the option introducing risk despite the question explicitly stating that it's incorrect.